pack animal

puppet is a wolf now, well & truly.

a true friend would buy me this shirt!

i followed a friends advice to the Prez website... i feel soo durty...

hehehe

kindneys! anyone want some kindeys?

Reality show to offer kidneys as prize

"...In The Big Donor Show, which is set to air this Friday, a terminally ill cancer patient will select one of three patients to receive her kidneys. Viewers will watch testimonials from the three Dutch contestants, aged between 18 and 40, and send in text message advice to the donor to help her decide who should receive the lifesaving operation..."

My initial reaction was shock & disgust. But im not so sure now. i've taken a breather to reflect. We can definitely say that a kidney donor version of 'perfect match' is in bad taste. Adding a competitive element ot organ donation is hardly nice. But is it worthy of disgust & thus censorship?

The argument portrayed by the network that organ donation may increase. They had a point, this may make organ doaning amore popular. Even so it did little to abay my concerns. There are better ways of increasing organ donor levels. And of course the network is making a nice profit that i doubt will be donated to charity.

Havign said that though - should we side ourselves with the opposing force. The christian democrats that is. They speak about this show as "caus[ing] confusion and anxiety" amongst the public? Um... why would the public become confused by this show? and why anxious?

While we have sympathy for the act that some of the contestants will loose, they did choose to participate, even if the choice is loaded. its not a question if invading privacy or causing inconvenience. No one is getting 'hurt' by the show.

If we become anxious is it because often like to ignore that reality is often a lot worse than television? As the network executive says: '...we think the reality is even more shocking and tasteless: Waiting for an organ is just like playing the lottery'

Sometimes i think that our disgust/anxiety often conceals/hints at issues we are not always comfortable with. These are issues we like to ignore or simply brush aside.

Sometimes shows like this almost redeem themselves because they are controversial. They put the issue out there, when we would otherwise brush past it. How many times does red nose day start a discussion about organ donation? I do mean 'almost redeem's' though. Its still indifferent. Its still bad taste.

'jez dave, you can't always keep your heart in a box under you bed' she said. "can't i?' I thought...

routine

***stretch 1

1. sitting back on thighs, stretch shoulders & triceps
2. downward dog - walk calves
3. walk forward, roll through spine & stretch up & repeat for sides
4. chest stretch & back curl
5. fall out of back curl into flat back horizontal, rise & fall
6. roll through centre & repeat side rolls faster
7. chest stretch with angular back curls
8. angular flat back with side roll
9. roll down sine & hang
10. walk out back to back to downward dog
11. go back to sitting on legs
12. stretch neck
13. move into cobblers pose & hold - straight back
14. lay with back on floor & do hip exercise
15. leg in, then leg across & exteneded (repeat for other foot)
16. leg in , ankle on knee & pull knee in (repeat)
17. Knee over to other side, near chest (repeat)
18. Back to coblers - with slight force, in close & straight back
19. Relax legs in semi extended position & touch toes - relax into it
20. side bends, moving into table, grab leg, moving into bent over, & drop & raise, move to other leg, move to flat back, move to side bend & repeat other way (roughly 8 counts each)

*** Warm up

A. sit-up -
either :lots of 16 - (front slow, front normal, left slow, left kick, right slow, right kick, both sides kic k at double time, full up and back.

or: lots of 8, normal, legs horizontal, then vertical then spread (repeat)

B. skipping

C. pushups

D. tricep exercie

E. chinups (if i can but i usually cant hehehe)

***stretch 2

21. Roll over legs into downward dog
22. roll through to stand hamstring stretch, knee close
23. while stretching move up and down on ball of other foot 8 times
24. push leg back, pull foot up. (repeat 23 & 24 for other foot)
25. back to downward dog
26. move leg between hands & pull head to knee (repeat)
27. hamstring stretch sitting (repeat)
29. touch toes while sitting (one leg only - pointing & flexing/ centre-side-centre & straight flexed back variations as req)
28. toe touch both - straight back, relax into it
29. toe touch, with assistance (preasure on lower back)
30. toe touch with legs squared
31. toe touch with legs as far as can go (preasure)
32. move to either side with oppoiste arm to leg combo
33. walk over extended legs into a reverse coblers & slowy relax & adjust
34. sit back & shake out

*** move into cardio (10-20min, one to two strands

A. yoga
B. basic routine combonations
C. a bike ride
D. skipping

*** ballet basics (41 - 44)

35. rolling through the foot
36. pliés demi & grand
37. balance
38. tondu - front back side & off ground
39. Battlement
40. Rond de jambe
41. rond de jambe raised
42. pirouette
43. jeté
44. tondu with arms (hate arms, never can time it)

*** preparations (selection of 3 or so, 4-8 reps, 3 sets)

A. Pencil turns etc
B. Movement pieces
C. Hand stands
D. release exercies
E. ballet complex
F. spinning (in air, pencil turns etc depending)

*** quick stretch out

*** done

license to thrill

I got my P plates on wednesday!! YAY!!

Updates

Hey all, so i've updated my blog a bit - finally put in some of the blog links that i check out... and now so can you. They're a extended family of sorts.

I'm also considering updating the banner, but i'm a bit stuck for inpiration. I could reference my tattoos, or possibly puppets. Maybe wolves. I like fairy tale chic. I dont know. When people think of me, what do they see?

sat on your lap

he tells me that he talks in circles. 'more like palindromes' i think to myself. Palindromes: the angels sung, the devils repeated back(wards). My initial response is to interpret such a statement in the negative. To talk in circles is the error of 'petitio principii'. Circular logic - the answer begs the question. But he says it with an air of confidence that skews his meaning to make it a positive quality. Either that or a sarcastic smile.

Possibly then it is something else. Maybe it is my logic. The logic of departures & arrivals. The logic of the second world that no longer exists and perhaps never did. Perhaps it is the oddity that Ugresic calls dress making. It is the act of introducing all the pieces at the start & binding them through sewing to make the seamless dress that is writing.

I shrug the idea that he could have read this, or felt this of writing/ideas. Instead i think through the multiple patterns of meaning. I settle for 'full circle'. Maybe its the idea that circular denotes completion. Perhaps it is in fact that his arguments can end where they began that shows his ability to comprehend the depth that is all around us.

He continues to talk & i am over come with an amazing sense of affection. Im probably wrong with my thoughts, they are stil to raw. maybe he is the sophist that wishes to escape the errors of argument. Or maybe he argues with the idea that he could reach my soul, that something outside of thought - the revolutionary. It is the completion of the circle.

I enjoy the openness that allows me to think while he thinks. I wander his/mine/our thoughts. I make us a beautiful dress & I enjoy my incorrectness. He tells me that he talks in circles. I smile & pick myself up & place myself on his lap.

I draw my fingers around his sly smile. He is too perfect (even with his imperfection!!, i want to hate him for it, but i love it, i love it so much more than i thought i would. Me the perfectionist! - me who MUST read the book from start to finish. I like straight line, so what is this circle???). He tells me all i need to know. I want to be here with his circular smile.

marage

how does one understand marriage? through the fantasies perpetrated by society who can only deal with an ending that is happy ever after? Or do we better understand it through its marginalised other? Through what stands in prefect diametric opposition to marriage, by this i mean - DIVORCE.

My reply would be that Divorce says much more about the truth of marriage than marriage does. To look at marriage is to look at a photo album of the memories that deserved to be saved - because they are pure. While to look at divorce is to sort through a garbage bin of what has been made & pushed aside. and as we know truth is truly a filthy subject.

The image above is from a firm of divorce lawyers advertising their firm to potential clients. It made the head lines when the sign was taken down by the disgruntled individuals who rented out the sign. the entire debate in the press did not surround the horror of people taking down a sign. Rather, it focused on whether the sign's message was in good or bad taste (Given America's love of the freedom of speech this should be considered quite odd.)

The australian press did not deal with it much, the SMH inserted a piece t hat was very open to interpretation - the violation of art vs the violence of the human body. The US press took a more interesting approach & sought to get the condemnation from lawyers themselves. Not just any lawyers though, divorce lawyers. And why not, the statement the poster makes is one that the divorce lawyers have loved to hate - it is a picture that represents their existence.

For those who did not follow the link for the above debate - well it focused on the way that the poster cheapened divorce. **** as divorce lawyers explained "Divorce is traumatic enough without this kind of [advertising]. We try and help people go through the divorce process with as much integrity as possible. A lot of my work is helping people grieve the loss of a divorce, and their own sense of betrayal. This makes divorce seem like it's not a big deal, and it's a huge deal for many people".

Well here's the catch - When the marriage lawyers against the sign say 'we help people get through divorce with integrity' they implicitly remind us that divorce destroys integrity, no matter what the reason, no matter who is the perpetrator, it is humiliating to admit that your life choice was wrong. The poster brings the humiliation [sic] to the fore front, it show it for what it is. Marriage is a limit, and not a heaven. It is a limit to who you are or who you sleep with (by traditional standards). Is that the body that i could have? Or maybe the body i could be? Its a limit that you now transgress through divorce. Oh, how you should be ashamed. And yet at the same time divorced people out number happy one timer couples. It is an anxiety that we relate to. Some fear it. Others challenge it.

This fear stems from our notions of marriage. Marriage has integrity, divorce does not. Marriage is the implicit "correct-choice" while divorce is the implicit "inncorrect-accident" and as we know accidents are not by choice.

Divorce is a disavowal of marriage. Marriage is interpreted as sacred. (as the lawyer in the linked article states). If it is sacred then the idea of making a mistake is already a problematic one. So then if a gay (take that as male for the moment)asks for gay marriage, then what does that mean?

The end of the sacred - gay marriage is not tradition, it is modern. gays are promiscuous, they are servants to the "inncorrect-accident". They highlight the inadequcacy of divorce, just as they do gender roles.

right wingers are able to use gay marriage as a tactic to win elections because gays are a symbolic fro may of the problems already inherent in marrage . That is 'straying' Not to say that all gays stray, or that denying gays marriage because they may stray is valid. It is worth only saying that marriage cannot tolerate straying & so gays who are precieved to be permiscuious & 'stray' are untolerable. (Of course leabians may be different... if they ever get media attention)

As Laura Kipnis said in Against Love (ps read this book!) "conservative think tanks like the Institute for American values issued what was billed as 'nonpartisan' reports suggesting an end to no-fault divorce, as a way of ' strengthening civil society' and 'improving the quality of marriage.' How preventing divorce would improve marriages and not just further the unhappiness of the unhappily married remained unspecified."*


****though one would think that what it actually does is point s out how
divorce cheapens marriage. "life is short, dont wait till death do us part"

revenge?

The thought occurred to me the other day that the opposition to gay marriage can be imagined as a kind of revenge. This logical jump came to me as i sat in the Newtown & noticed that Pauline Pantsdown's old hit was playing, you know the one, with the infamous line '...im a back door man.' Obviously with Pauline's interview in the SX recently someone had decided a good reminisce was in order.

Pauline Pantsdown. A gay man dresses as a parodied Pauline Hanson. He samples her words & releases a song & gains popular support. Its a direct attack on her racist attitudes from an unlikely source. A gay (white) man. The gay community fights against the persecution of the Asian community.

Several years latter & there is a war on terror. Out of no where is a push to ban gay marriage - not that anyone was making any real effort to get it introduced. And of course the gay community fights against the ban. The right learned their lesson - be ware of people joining together. So how to you stop people joining together? Play on the pre-existing tensions.

Lets do a little role play & imagine some right wing think tank sussing the situation out:

"Well - the war on Iraq is going to generate opposition. Its not going to look good for the party. Worse still it may stop the war. Oil, money, international positioning... too important to back off. Well, what to do?! Well we know many of the middie's* are mainly Muslim. Bingo. The r-r-race card.'
'Wait' a colleague mutters 'that may not work, remember Pauline Hanson/Pantsdown? it could cause a back lash, how we going to manage that?'
"Well..." he replies with a grin "Maybe this is some time for revenge on those lefties. Lets pull the pants over their heads these times. Muslims are fairly Conservative - if we pushed something like a gay marriage ban they'd support it. The lefties who'd want to be there all lovey-dovey in support would get a wake up call when they realise they're supporting the enemy. The gays wont like it, but hey, they're not a key constituency, besides we'll get heaps of pro-family support. Fantastic!

*i imagine they'd give a nick name to the grouping of people from the middle east.

camp betty

this looks like it could be pretty good, not sure if im going yet, but heads up!!

www.campbetty.net

room for rent

Big room available in a terrace house in Enmore
(near the theatre, so close to public transport etc)
It goes for $150 p/w.
The house is completely furnished...except for a toaster :-)
The bedroom is unfurnished but has a balcony

You can move in from the 15th of May onwards.

You'd Be living with Puppet/Davey & Gary.
We both work & we both gay & *cough* wogs.

Gary:
"I'm a 23yr gay boy, who likes quite nights, and long walks...lol, no. I work 2 part time jobs, hang out with friends on my spare time, and get involved in random things. I like the occasional big nights, but not a party goer.

Puppet:
"Im 25yo, and a bear (or maybe a wolf;). Im friendly & considerate with 7 years of share housing experience. I go out on weekends, but otherwise work 9-5 in the community/health sector. "

Would suit left leaning or relaxed or queer or friendly or a 'all of the above ' kind of a person.

We are friends, but we are friendly as well, so you won't feel left out. Well there it is; our lives on a platter. Get in touch if you know anyone!

cheers,
Gary & puppet
puppet 0422 614 824

scenes from an engagement

on my way
the boys getting all cuddly for no reason
younger bros
me and older bro
sis & cousins

exhale

I am in front of a dented door. My hand precariously on the handle. I whisper her name & hear a soft reply. i push open the door, and step in side. She explains to me the deal while smoking a cigarette. In the quiet i try to imagine the yelling & the tears, but sounds prefer to stay in the past. Between a drag & a breath she lifts her skirt to show me her thigh. Its bruised blue. I cant think of anything to do but give her a hug. Its short lived, it feels strangely dishonest. The only thing that satisfies both her & I is to listen to the diminuendo of an exhalation.

flannelet

He's hung his pants on the rungs of an old ladder that rests at an angle on the wall. There is an old crate - the wooden kind that acts as bench for a vinyl record player
The records themselves are wedged between the make shift bench & wall. He has chosen to keep all his possessions in old vintage suit cases. His clothes & sheets in a large brown one with copper-ish clips. Other personal items sit above this one in a blue case. A third small one sits open, as decoration. Its filled with plastic flowers. They bloom with sunshine, so as long as the lid remains open.

I lie down in a pair of flannelet pj's, my chest is bare. I lay on his bed. I look across his 'room'. His room is made of old bits of wood, and other affects. The room comes complete with a window sitting opposite the bed & just behind a curtain that takes up the whole wall. If the curtain were drawn, i could look out through the window into a warehouse that is the home of this bizarre 'room'. A warehouse fantasy land of nostalgia & daydreams.

He goes to the record player & puts on a record. I smile at him. He smiles back.

Neon Genesis Evangelion TV Trailer

Well, one of the greatest anime series - Evangelion is being remade. This time its being converted from original 26 episodes, into 4 movies. There will be a new character, a new 'machine' and a new ending. !!!! hopefully a slightly more cheerful ending than the last